Rea teens: Julia Bluhm, 14, stood outside the
magazine’s Midtown headquarters and led a protest against the industry’s
fervent use of Photoshop, before hand delivering her petition with
25,000 signatures.

Miss Bluhm said during the protest: ‘I know much how much pictures in
the media have an effect in the self esteem of girls and their body
image.’

11 comments:

I know how to use photoshop and use it sometimes to edit pictures to lighten them or do some other color setting but thats it. I wish more magazines did no retouch, no makeup issues where teen girls (and women) got to see what these stars and models really look like. I think a lot of them are a lot more "average" looking than we are led to believe. So many people have their bodies so insanely photoshopped they look so much skinnier in print than they do in real life. People need to embrace when they look like, and be positive role models for all these children who strive to be "beautiful" like these stars!

Photoshop has its place, but I agree it's been way overused. There is a point where we have to accept the "imperfections" of nature that are what real beauty is about. My sister in law is a photoshop whiz, so she loves tweaking her already amazing photos. But my husband had to talk to her about using it on photos of her baby daughter. It must be tempting to make her cheeks a little rosier, her eyes a little bluer, but what kind of message will that tell her daughter as she gets older?

I can understand some minor retouching. That makes sense to me as a designer and as a hobbyist model. Sometimes, things just look better when blemishes (even birthmarks) are removed, wrinkles are lessened, bulges are smoothed out, and stray hairs are gotten rid of.

But at the same time, overdoing it just doesn't make any sense to me. If you're going to slim someone down so much they look like a different person, why not just hire someone who's that slim to begin with?

Then again, the website Photoshop Disasters is a guilty pleasure of mine, and if we start really cracking down on limiting the amount of retouching that's used, the site could go away. That would make me sad ;)

These photo editing programs are just a small contributor to the overall message that marketers use in regards to women especially. Let's get real. I HAVE noticed though in the last few years more "real" looking women AND men in advertising... ie: receding hair lines, excessive weight, etc. Amen!

I agree that Photoshop is abused at times. Yet, it can really do nice things for your photos. I myself feel a boost when I see that I don't have dark circles in my headshot. Heehee! But, on a serious note, self-esteem is from within. I'm an adult and I know that those pictures are altered and not realistic. I worry more about younger pre-teens and teens that think this is the beauty norm. I say just boycott the magazines :) Create your own reality of beauty. Don't give the negative the attention.

Photoshopping yourself or others is just one way of taking away the "imperfections of life" and trying to make yourself or others appear the way that you want them to be instead of the way that God made them. I have real issues with the whole idea and I own Photoshop and have never used it yet. I have a good program that takes scratches out of pics and things that should be helped but not the appearance of a person. Wrinkles, silver hair, bulges... you are what you are. God made you that way and you should be proud of who you are!

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I am a Stay at Home Mom and Wife and the caretaker of a kill rescue Sharpei Mix 8-9 years ago and she is 13 now! We live at the beach in Southern CA. and I sell SCENTSY and other items on Etsy.
I take part in PRODUCT REVIEWS, BOOK REVIEWS, PET PRODUCT REVIEWS and GIVEAWAYS. I also like to discuss RECIPES and COOKING and will post mine and others as well and accept recipes from you!
I write about human and animal health and keeping fit. I write personal entries. I also write entries for other blogs and write educational curriculum for outside sources.
Enjoy the blog! Thank you, Carolyn